Baby Sis
by LobsterLobster
Summary: A peaceful day at the prison, Beth and Daryl both help Carl to connect with his little sister, each in their own special way. Fluff!


Summary: Beth and Daryl both help Carl to connect with his little sister, each in their own way.

A/N: They don't interact a whole lot on the show, but I think Beth is kinda like an older sister to Carl. This is a Carl-centric story with hints of Beth/Daryl, if you see it that way, but mostly just friendship. I hope you like it!

...

Baby Sis

Carl let his shovel fall to the ground. He tilted his head back to take in the bold blue summer sky and let out a deep sigh.

He tried to listen to what his dad was trying to teach him, to throw himself into farming. He tried, he really did, but some days it was so hard to keep at it. His arms ached from turning the dirt, his back ached from bending over, his knees were sore from kneeling.

Brushing the dirt from his hands, Carl trudged across the uneven earth. They were clearing a few more rows to plant some corn, or beans, or whatever Hershal said.

Passing his dad, Carl said, "Taking a water break," and kept walking towards the picnic tables in the meal area.

Rick nodded his assent and continued working.

Carl grabbed a spare cup and filled it from the orange water cooler at the end of the picnic table then went to sit on the bench near Beth, who was balancing Baby Judith on her lap.

"Hey," Beth greeted him with a smile.

Carl smiled back tiredly and took a gulp of warm water. Daryl was sitting on the table across from them, his boots on the bench, crossbow and arrows spread out around him.

"What are you doing?" Carl asked, curious what Daryl was up to.

Daryl's knife paused and he held up the thin stick in his hand by way of explanation, then went back to carefully sharpening the end of the stick.

"Making extra arrows," Beth supplied.

"Oh," Carl said.

Not for the first time, he wished that he could spend the day learning how to make arrows or shoot a crossbow instead of farming, but those thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of Judith cooing something in her baby language.

"She's happy to see you!" Beth told Carl.

"I don't know," Carl said dubiously. He wasn't at all sure Judith even knew who he was yet.

"Do you want to hold her?" Beth asked cheerfully.

"Wait, me?"

"Yes, you," she replied, "Who else?"

"Uh, no thanks," he said hesitantly, ducking his head away from Beth's inquiring gaze.

"Carl, she's your sister," Beth said gently, "You should show her that you love her."

For a split second Carl remembered that time, shortly after they'd arrived at the prison, when Beth had called him out for talking back to his mom. He felt a pang of shame for how he'd acted back then. The older girl had been right then and maybe, Carl thought, she was right again.

It stung a little that Beth still saw him as such a kid but he knew she meant well.

"Of course I love her. I'm the one who named her, after all," Carl defended himself, halfway hoping to distract Beth from the whole baby-holding idea.

No such luck.

"Good!" Beth exclaimed and, before Carl knew what was happening, plopped a grinning Judith down on his lap.

"Wait! I can't! I don't know how to…_Beth_! Help!" he panicked, dropping his water cup to awkwardly lean over and hold his arms around Judith in a protective circle.

"Relax, you're doing fine," Beth didn't quite stifle a giggle at Carl's reaction. Clearly the boy didn't have the first clue about how to hold a baby.

"Here, like this, just keep one hand behind her back for support when she's sitting," Beth moved Carl's arms to demonstrate, "and if she wiggles too much you'll be ready to catch her."

"Okay," Carl calmed down a bit, his eyes glued to Judith's every movement. The little girl gurgled contentedly up at her brother.

"See, nothing to be afraid of," Beth said, stroking Judith's wispy baby hair affectionately.

"I'm not afraid," Carl said, "She's just so…little. What if I hurt her by accident?"

"Don't worry so much," Daryl's gruff voice made both Carl and Beth look up, "Babies are a lot sturdier than ya think."

"Hell, Merle must have dropped me half a dozen times when I was a baby and I turned out just fine," Daryl said, gesturing around with an arrow for emphasis.

"Oh," was all Beth had to say.

"What do you mean 'Oh'?" Daryl seemed to take exception to Beth's hesitant response.

"Nothing, Daryl," she said, "Just, it's pretty hard to picture you are Merle as little kids is all."

Daryl shrugged, probably wondering how he'd gotten himself into this strange line of conversation. He didn't talk about his past very often.

Carl looked back down at Judith, thinking.

He knew that Merle had been a huge jerk to his dad, and just about everyone else too. However, Michonne had told him the story of how Merle had kidnapped her but then changed his mind and decided to attack the Governor's men instead. She painted it as a story about redemption, but Carl was more impressed with how smart Michonne had to be to talk herself out of that situation and keep her cool the whole time besides.

Something occurred to Carl about what Daryl had said. Maybe he shouldn't ask, but now he was curious.

"Was your brother the one who took care of you," Carl asked, "when you were little, like Judith?"

"More or less," Daryl replied and Carl thought the conversation was over but Daryl continued, seemingly caught up in memories of a lighter time.

"You know, 'cause of Merle, for about the first five years of my life I thought my name was Baby Brother."

"_Really_?" Beth asked.

"Yep. He was only seven when I was born. Looking back, I'm not so sure Merle knew any better his own self. Can't really blame him though. The story goes, when our mom came home from the hospital she put me in Merle's arms and said, 'This is your baby brother,' and that was that," Daryl told them.

Beth was smiling like she did when she saw something really cute. She was imagining little Daryl showing up to kindergarten and introducing himself as 'Baby Brother'.

A mischievous grin crossed Carl's face as he let his baby sister yank on his rolled up shirt sleeve.

"When she gets older, I'm going to teach her to say her name is Judith Lil Asskicker Grimes!"

Daryl nodded approvingly.

The End.


End file.
